Those left behind
by Id9916
Summary: In the aftermath of Hohenheim's departure, Trisha il left alone to care for two children.


"Al, you idiot!"

The sound of a young body hitting the ground, followed by the piercing cry of a toddler.

Trisha hurriedly died off her hands on the dishrag, then stuck her head out of the kitchen window. Little Al was huddled up on the front steps, sniffling to himself, but didn't look hurt, while Ed looked angrily at him from a little apart. The young mother, assured that her spawn wasn't in immediate danger, allowed a scowl to form between her eyebrows.

"Why is your brother crying, Ed?" she interrogated her eldest.

The boy kicked some gravel with haste before answering.

"It's his fault! He always falls".

"No, Mama! Ed shoved me!" Al provided his version between small hiccups.

"Shut up, scumbag!"

"Ed! What's with this language?" she couldn't believe her ears, when had her son started to speak like a sailor? "Who taught you that?"

Al had stopped whining, sign that he really wasn't hurt, and Trisha decided to concentrate on the foul language issue, for now. One thing at a time.

"Mr Hansen always says that to his kettle" Ed answered. "Why, is it a bad word? Am I in trouble?"

Of course, the old shepherd never thought about what was proper for children ears and, as a consequence, children loved to hang around him.

"It's cattle. And yes, it is a very bad word, Ed. But I'll let it slide for this time if you promise to never say it again and if you're good to your brother". Ed nodded with intensity, happy to avoid the reprimand, and resumed his game of tag with Al. "And stay away from Mr Hansen, you both, he has a bad influence on you!"

"Yes, Mama!"

"Will do!"

Trisha returned to the dishes still in the sink and continued to scrub them vigorously. It had only been three months since Van had left and the weight of raising two little creatures, along with running a household, all by herself had start to take a toll on her. She often felt tired and every other day she would find it difficult to reach the evening without a short nap. Luckily, the boys were goodhearted and helped her with small chores, and the Rockbells often hosted them for a couple hours, giving her some time to rest. Unfortunately, Urey and Sarah would leave to Ishval soon and Trisha and Pinako would have to deal with three children, two houses and the worry about their loved ones. But better worry when the time would come, she told herself, one thing at a time.

* * *

The boys never came home immediately after school unless it was raining heavily, they usually stayed outside to play with their friends, so when the front door creaked open at a quarter to four and she heard small footsteps approaching, but no cheerful voices, Trisha knew that something was off. She got up from the bed where she had been laying, the headache still present but quenched by the sleep she was able to catch. She went to the kitchen to find Ed and Al slumped onto the armchair, mumbling to themselves. Al had put on a pouty face that would have been sweet and cute, if it wasn't for the tears that were threatening to fall from his puppy eyes. Ed, on the other hand, had crossed his arms and kicked repeatedly the footrest, as if it had done something mean to him personally.

"But Brother, I wanted to go to Jim's house very much!" and there the tears started.

"I'm telling you, it's better this way. He's stupid anyway" Ed stated, matter-of-factly.

Trisha finally made herself known in the room and Al hurried to her, lifting his arms in a demand of being picked up. She knelt down and hugged him tightly.

"What happened to you, sweetheart? Want Mama to kiss you so the tears will go away?" She scooped him up and he leaned in the crook of her neck, sniffling. It was Ed, although, that answered her question.

"Jim has a new-born lamb and invited everybody to see it, but then he said that Al and I couldn't go". Another kick to the footrest. "But I don't care, lambs are lame". The last kick had sent the stool too far from his reach, and so Ed settled to kick the armchair leg.

Trisha sighed. Sometimes kids didn't realise that their behaviour could hurt others. Jim was actually a good child and a friend of both the boys, so she thought that he had only acted on the whim of impulse, exercising the unusual power that came from having something that all his mates wanted to see. With Al still in one arm, she took Ed with the other and proceeded with sitting on the armchair, setting her two angels on her lap.

"I'm sure there's a reason for everything" she said, caressing their hair. She rejoiced in cuddling them, while it lasted. Heaven knows that, since Van had left, Ed had decided to be the little man of the house, and had become squirmy of her touch, at least in public, because " _Big boys don't do that_ ". How long until they started to claim their independency even at home? If they were as precocious as they seemed so far, the dreaded moment couldn't be too far away. But for now, they still leaned onto her, and this was enough. One thing at a time.

"He said – he said!" Al hiccupped, unable of articulate. "He said that his Mama said we couldn't! That we have a bad influence!" he managed to cry out.

"Yeah, he said that she said we are children of the sin!" Now Ed was latching on her waist and his voice had been unsteady. "Why is that? Is it because I said some bad word like Mr Hansen? But Mom, I swear I didn't, I didn't! I did as you said, I was good and behave!" Somewhere in the middle of his rambling, Ed had teared up too and she held them both while they cried all their children anguish in her shirt. So _that_ was the problem.

She kissed the top of their heads and cradled them until they calmed down.

"Don't worry, honey. I know you are good boys" she said sweetly while she took a handkerchief from her pocket. "I'll talk to Mrs Bonnet and we'll figure this out. I'm sure it's a misunderstanding".

* * *

No, it wasn't a misunderstanding at all, she reflected while headed on the narrow dirt path that led to the Bonnets' farm. The boys had stayed home, tucked in early without protests. After spending half the afternoon crying, they were exhausted.

To be fair, the fact that she and Van hadn't bothered to get married before starting to live together had always made the most conservative noses in town turn up. After Ed was born the rumours intensified, but they had usually been limited to whispers and she hadn't thought much of it. She sincerely couldn't care less of being pointed out to young ladies as the one to not imitate. " _This is why you ought to marry, least you end up like her_ ". But not she nor Van had been willing to bow to some naughty voices. They were happy, and the fact that her lover was fairly respected in the community had kept the nastier gossip at bay. After Al's birth they had quenched enough to almost a stop. Apparently, the fact that their relationship held even without a piece of paper with their names written on wasn't such a novelty that needed to be discussed in great detail anymore. Although she had explained, to those who asked where Van was, that he had an important job in Central and that he would be back soon, she knew that many would think that he had left for good, tired of the country life with a meagre girl who didn't even finish school and two little kids. She knew that rumours would start again, but she could take them, she thought. Even if Van couldn't explain to her the exact reason why he had left, she had faith in him. There were lives at stake and he was the only one who could do something, he had said, and she believed him. The least she could do, was bearing the whispered comments of ignorant people, but her children had no fault. They were generally well loved, and this was the first time they had reported of being excluded because of their parents' life choices. She was _not_ going to allow it to become a habit. They hadn't chosen to be born in the first place, and thus weren't to blame.

Absorbed in such thoughts, she walked swiftly the few miles to the Bonnets', and knocked on the front door. After a minute, Jade Bonnet crossed the threshold and stepped on the porch.

"Trisha" the sturdy woman acknowledged coldly.

"Jade" Trisha returned, as coldly.

"I wasn't expecting a visit from you, and certainly not at this hour. I'm sorry to say that you cannot stay long, you see, _my husband_ will surely be waiting for his dinner". Even though the tone was polite, the intention of driving Trisha away from the Bonnets' property was evident.

In all honesty, Trisha hadn't come to bicker with the woman, nor to insult her. She held her breath for a little longer than she needed and then exhaled silently.

"Listen, Jade," she started in a complaisant tone "I know what your beliefs are, and I'm not here to change your mind. But my sons did nothing wrong and therefore shouldn't be blamed".

"I don't know what you're talking about, young lady" she denied in return.

"You told your son that he isn't to spend time with my boys because they are the fruit on the sin!" she hadn't mean to snap, but there she was.

The older woman knitted her brows in a resentful frown. "I have no obligation of explaining my motives to you, how I raise my children is none of your concerns".

"It is, if your decisions affect _my_ children, too!" Trisha noticed that her own hands were now tight in a fist, and her voice had raised consistently with her last exclamation.

"I have nothing against your children" Jade raised her voice, too. "On the contrary, I pity them. Growing up without a father, and they don't even have his last name. This is bound to mess with their heads, somehow".

"They are not growing up without a father!" she retorted.

"And where is he, then?" she said, mockingly.

"Van is in Central, he has business to attend to" Trisha supplied with a snarl. Hadn't she repeated that story enough, already?

"I'll tell you something, since you're apparently too blind to see it for yourself: Hohenheim is not coming back. He has no business in Central. He was tired of you and your children and thought well to flee. Everybody in town knows it". The shadow of a doubt insinuated in the young woman's chest. She had always been afraid that Van would eventually grow tired of her, but this wasn't the moment to falter. She had seen the look on his face the morning he had left, he was heartbroken. And she knew that, even if he could ever get bored of her, he loved their sons and would never leave them behind. She must have faith in him, know. The moment of doubt and sadness could come at night, when she was alone in their bed, tired and melancholic, and she could allow herself to be weak. But not now. One thing at a time.

"I don't know how you can claim of knowing all these things, Jade, when you aren't an intimate friend of Van and you have never left Resembool" she replied then, coldly.

"Neither have you, for what I recall. As for being intimate, I'll leave that to the whores he's certainly seeing wherever he is". The imposing woman appeared even more impressing, leaning down toward shorter and petite Trisha, who was at a loss of words. How _dare_ she insinuate something so – disgusting!

"You may believe that being married isn't important, but no respectable woman would tolerate to live in your situation," Jade continued "and I don't want my children to be anywhere near your desecrated self nor your mutt sons!" She was now almost shouting, and some droplets of spit reached Trisha's face.

Trisha regained some control of herself and shouted back "You have no right of –"

"I have all the rights of deciding who my children are to hang out with, and your half-breed are not welcomed. Not are you. Now get out of my property, you immoral girl!" The matronly woman then slammed the door to her face and Trisha was left to stomp back home, ashamed and defeated.

* * *

All Elrics where now at the Rockbells', the children playing in Winry's room, and the adults gathered around the dining table, drinking tea.

Trisha had already explained yesterday events to her closest friends and neighbours. The heavy silence clotting the room was finally broken by Pinako, who set her pipe aside with a loud thud. "Don't be silly, girl" she said at last "Hohenheim loves you and the children. I don't know what possessed him to leave, but sure as hell it must be important".

"Still, I can't believe that Jade Bonnet would say something so distasteful" Sarah commented.

"By how she poses as the moral guide of the community, you would expect her to be politer, at the very least". Urey's mouth was contorted in a grimace as he spoke.

"That's not what I'm fretting about, I couldn't care less of what she's saying about me" Trisha murmured, although this wasn't completely true. Who could completely ignore such mean rumours about themselves? "I'm worried for the boys, I'm afraid they'll be ostracized, if not bullied."

They all fell silent. They knew that, even though this was not desirable, it was very likely, especially if other parents followed Jade Bonnet's lead.

"Don't worry," Urey encouraged her after a minute "Winry will never let them down, she's so fond of them".

"And besides," Sarah added "I'm pretty sure they can hold their own. They are so resourceful already".

"Ed surely has a big mouth for being so small" Pinako said wryly, and Trisha couldn't help but giggle.

" _\- not small!_ " came a whisper from the hallway.

" _Hush, Brother!_ "

" _We'll be found out!_ "

"I think we are being observed, my friends" Trisha announced loudly.

"Come here, you three little rascals" said Urey in a playful tone. Winry, Ed and Al advanced slowly in the kitchen, ready to be scolded.

"You know you shouldn't eavesdrop" Pinako reprimanded.

"We wanted to know why Mama was sad" little Alphonse complained. Then he looked his mother in the eyes. "Mama, are you sad because Papa is away?"

"No, Al, weren't you listening?!" Edward blurted impulsively. "She's sad because that woman told her mean things!" Her eldest son turned towards her and she could see fiery rage in his golden eyes. "But I'll kick her and make her apologise to you, don't worry Mom!"

Trisha knew that she ought to tell him off, for eavesdropping and menacing to brutally avenge her wound pride, but she couldn't help the laugh that escaped her mouth, so heartfelt that it infected the others, too.

"Oh, my boys," she chuckled "I'm sorry I worried you. I didn't mean it". She reached for them and hugged them tightly. "I promise that everything is alright". They hugged her back and she took comfort of her sons' unconditioned love for her. Her worries for their well-being weren't dissipated, but she was relieved of having supportive people around her, and this could be enough, for the time being.

* * *

That night, she tucked them in and stayed by their bedside stroking their soft hair. Al had fallen asleep instantly, but Ed seemed distressed and wouldn't keep his eyes closed.

"Mom?" Ed called her after a while.

"Yes, honey?"

"I don't care want the others say, you're the best mom in the world and I would do anything for you".

A single tear managed to escape her eyelids. "Thank you, Ed". She posed a light kiss on his forehead and watched her son finally falling asleep.

 **So, this story was born because Trisha and Hohenheim weren't married, at least this is what the wikia states and in effect they don't wear wedding rings, while the Curtis and Hughes do. Since FMA is set in the early 20th century, and especially Resembool being a small town, I couldn't help but thinking that there would be some nasty gossip going around. Still, I hope this doesn't come out as too exaggerated (I'm especially wary of the quarrel between Trisha and my OC) or Out Of Character. I'd be gratefull if you could tell me what you think, feedback is always appreciated.**

 **I'm marking this as complete, but I could come back and add other chapters about life in Resembool, if I feel like it. What do you guys think, would you like to see more of it?**

 **Thanks for reading till here!**


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